In the radio broadcasting field, during the course of a given program the radio station will broadcast music interspersed with commercials. Typically, a number of records of varying duration will be played, with commercials being broadcast between each record. A recording of the entire program can be made on an audio tape using a conventional tape recorder.
Not too surprisingly, it is often desirable to record the program without commercial interruption. That is, tape recordings are made which have only the music being broadcast of each record of any duration, but which do not have the commercials. Typically, this is accomplished by a person listening to a radio broadcast and manually turning the tape recorder on and off when music or commercials are being played.
A number of problems exist with this manual technique for recording only music of any duration directly on to the tape recorder. First, this technique requires the constant attention of the person recording the music being broadcast in turning the tape recorder on and off. Secondly, the person must anticipate the beginning and ending of each piece of music and each commercial to operate the tape recorder so as not to eliminate any of the desired music or to record the undesired commercials. Thirdly, under some conditions it may not be practical to make such a commercial-free recording. For example, while driving an automobile, the person should not be concentrating on turning on and off a cassette to record the music of a program being received over the car radio.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.